


Like Tangled Threads

by Panultimate



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Caliginous Romance | Kismesis, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-14
Updated: 2014-12-16
Packaged: 2018-03-01 09:20:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2767898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Panultimate/pseuds/Panultimate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of one shots about Vriska and Rose in a black romance, with Kanaya tangled up in it in various ways. They may or may not all fit together, so it might be easier to think of them as separate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kanaya talks with Jade.

You run your fingers over the cloth, lightly brushing over each stitch, trembling ever so slightly, torn between shaking with grief and wanting to just rip it apart. You push it aside before you can damage it. Whatever it means now, it’s still a nice garment, and you know you’d probably regret it. As if you don’t already have enough to regret. With a sigh, you stand up and turn to look at the sleeping human on your couch. It shouldn’t be her. She shouldn’t be the one here, but there she is, her black hair splayed out and her mouth half open, in danger of drooling all over your designer pillows. 

"Jade," you say gently, crouching down beside her. 

Her eyes flutter open and she blinks blearily at you for a second then hastily sits up and wipes her face. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean…” She looks around and you notice her eyes go straight to the dress. “I was tired. But, are you okay?”

"You can stay anytime."

"Are you okay?" She repeats.

You try to say that you’re fine, but it doesn’t work. Your throat clenches and you close your mouth before you make a fool of yourself with a coughing fit, or worse, crying. Instead, you shrug and straighten, turning away. “If you want to spend the night, you’re welcome. I have extra blankets.”

You know she has her own room just down the hall but part of you doesn’t want her to leave just yet. 

"Do you need to talk?"

She came in here to talk to me, you know. Both of you need to talk and both of you will offer to listen to the other one even though neither of you are up to playing therapist just now, nor are you up to talking. You’re in the same ship here, the same crazy space ship. 

"Do you want tea?" You ask, side stepping her question with an utter failure to be subtle.

Jade stood and stretched, scratching her fluffy dog ears. “What kind do you have?”

You introduce her to the finest Alternian tea and try to talk about the evening Nepeta sat you and Terezi down to have a tea party, but it doesn’t work and you trail off. The two of you sit down at your coffee table and sip in silence. You finish your tea and try to read the tea leaves to occupy yourself, but that just makes you think of them, both of them.

"I miss her too," Jade says.

You glance at her, about to snap that she doesn’t understand, but then, maybe she does, in a different way. They’d been friends longer than you’d known Rose. “Yeah,” you manage to say, and mentally congratulate yourself on your eloquence. 

"I’m sure she’ll come back. She does these things sometimes. She gets ideas into her head and sets off and does them. Like with the whole green sun thing. She had to…" Jade pauses, and you realize your expression must have slipped out of neutral. "She’ll be alright. She’ll make it back."

Does she not know? It occurs to you that Jade might actually not know why Rose left beyond the usual Heroic Suicide Mission that she and Dave were both so prone to. It also hadn’t fully occurred to you that Rose might actually die out there. You feel bad for not thinking about that first, and now even more guilt and fear mix in with your melting pot of unpleasant emotions. 

Jade reaches over the coffee table and puts a hand on your arm. 

"I thought they’d be good for each other." You start talking, spilling it out to Jade, reassured that she won’t fully understand what you’re saying. "A bit of healthy competition. I thought, if anyone could handle that, handle her, it would be Rose. I thought I’d meddled enough. It wasn’t as if Rose didn’t know what she’d gotten into. She’d read all of Karkat’s romance books and he and I both told her all about quadrants and a million other troll culture things. She knew about kismesis and what it means, so that wasn’t an issue. And she knew about… this particular situation. She knew about the history and my history and, by all accounts, she knew what she was getting into. And who was I to stop her? I’m - was- am… As her matesprite, I had no right to go telling her who she could or couldn’t court in her other quadrants. I couldn’t auspistice, not for my matesprite and every other time I tried to auspistice with Vriska it always failed horribly." You pause, realizing you’ve just blown any secrecy you might have had. Oh well. "I could see the attraction. I understood it, what they saw in each other, and I thought it might be the right thing for both of them. And maybe… maybe it was. Is."

Jade waits to see if you’re going to say more. “John has told me some things about Vriska,” she says carefully and you know she knows the worst things.

You want to defend yourself, defend Rose, hell, you even want to defend Vriska. But Jade isn’t fighting you or arguing with you and you try to push back those urges. “I thought it might be better. For them both. This time.”

Jade nods, and gives you a small smile. “This makes my dating drama seem pretty small.”

"No. It’s big for you, and what happens in my quadrants doesn’t change what you’re going through."

She smiles again, with genuine warmth and affection and oddly, to your own surprise, you realize you feel a little better. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose and Vriska and Rose's thoughts on the whole thing.

"Why do you even bother putting that on?"

Rose checked her lips in the mirror and replaced the cap on her lipstick. "Someone in this relationship has to look good."

Vriska scoffed. "You said otherwise last night."

Rose tried to recall as much of last night's dialogue as she could, and realized that Vriska had never once lost her cool, never once said anything that blurred the lines between black and red. "It's funny how people look different the morning after, isn't it?" Rose remarked coldly.  
  
The troll smirked and pulled a few tangles out of her hair with her fingers. "You say that like you have any sort of experience. Is Maryam a different sight without makeup?"  
  
Rose occupied herself by neatening her already neat hair. Kanaya was supposed to be off bounds, a subject they didn't so much as joke about, but how was Rose to know what was off bounds in a kismessisitude? "She's certainly better than you."  
  
"Ooh, someone's touchy! Is she still not talking to you? I thought she, of all people, would understand the appeal."  
  
"You think too highly of yourself," Rose said, mentally screaming at Vriska to shut up about Kanaya. Anyone else, go for it. Just not Kanaya, not now.  
  
"Maybe," Vriska said dismissively. "But I don't think so. You two have similar taste, and definitely good taste in girls."  
  
Rose couldn't tell who that round about comment was directed at. Maybe Rose, maybe Kanaya, maybe herself. Gosh, what fun lesbian love triangles are! But Vriska could clearly tell Kanaya was a sore subject, and she wasn't going to drop it until she got the reaction she wanted or Rose somehow managed to get back at her similarly. It was too early in the morning for emotional sparring. It had been so refreshing when she was ready, awake and energized and passionate, but now she was sore, physically and mentally. But she couldn't back down or back out. She wasn't going to be another victim of a failed relationship with Vriska Serket. Was there any way out though? If she "won" and left, Vriska would seek out vengeance. If she "lost" and left, well... Tavros had lost and failed to leave multiple times. Aradia had lost and died. Her best hoe was to somehow make it out like Terezi and Eridan had. Maybe blind, maybe bitter, probably more hurt inside than before.  
  
The challenge was on another level now, beyond tiffs and livening shouting and ice cold spikes of wit. Rose was bored and scared and annoyed. She tried not to think about how much she wanted Kanaya back. This had all been so remarkably stupid. She'd felt so independent and rebellious at the time, and now she was just another fly caught in this spider's web.


End file.
